It’s been a few weeks since the interview between Barbara Walters and Bashar al-Assad was aired on national television, but the question of why the U.S. media didn’t air the full interview still remains in my head today.

It boggles my mind that the version aired on American cable was only a segment of the entire interview, not to mention that it was chopped up to bits. Some of what I thought were the most important parts of the interview were left out.

If the U.S. government is confident that it has taken the right position on Syria, why can’t all the footage of such an important interview be shown to the American public? Is it possible that the entire interview might give viewers a different perspective on the Syrian president and the events unfolding in his country?

I can’t be so sure, but there is no reason to fully dismiss the possibility.

Regardless, it is very unusual that ABC would air only a small portion of the interview. The version shown on national television was only 10-15 minutes long; the one I saw was about an hour.